Fall fun, fall color

September 28, 2005

As of last week we entered my favorite time of the year - fall.

While summer is nice, it is too hot for my hairy, large Celtic frame. Making the situation even worse for me is the fact I spend many weekends wearing a heavy wool kilt while throwing "telephone poles" during sweltering hot days.

As for the other seasons, spring is too muddy for me - when I throw my weights and caber the ground tends to suck them up when they land - and winter is just too cold -imagine an icy gust of air filled with snow shooting up a kilt.

Therefore, I love it when fall arrives with its cool, not cold, temperatures. The ground is hard enough to keep from sucking my weights in, the wool of my kilt does not seem like it is some sort of torture device and I end my throwing practices not laying on the ground wishing someone would throw me in a lake.

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But fall is more to me that just cool air. Fall shows us the true beauty of living in Northern Michigan, thanks to a wonderful landscape painted various colors by turning leaves.

As you drive, walk, bike or run around outdoors this fall, you will notice tree leaves in many different colors of reds, yellows, purples and browns.

In this week's Nature Notebook, let's look at why they are all those colors, what trees are what colors, what is making them change and when is the best time to enjoy our fall landscape.

Leaves of deciduous trees change in the fall because of slowly disappearing amounts of a chlorophyll. A deciduous tree is a tree without needle-like leaves; trees with needle-like leaves are called conifers. Coniferous trees keep their needles throughout the year. Chlorophyll is the chemical in a leaf that gives it a green color and is used by the leaf to make sunlight into food for the tree.

But chlorophyll is not the only chemical in a leaf. Also present are pigment-producing substances called carotenoids and athocyanins.

When days begin to shorten in late summer and fall, the leaves of a tree slowly stop producing food and the chlorophyll diminishes.

As the season continues and the chlorophyll disappears, the other pigment-producing substances are left, giving the leaf its fall color. How much of what pigment is left determines what color the leaf will be.

Leaves with more carotenoids in them will be yellow and orange, while those with more athocyanins will be red.

The leaves eventually turn brown as they die and fall off the plant to help the tree survive the winter by getting rid of tender tissues prone to frost.

The weather also plays a big factor in the color of the leaves.

Generally several warm, sunny days and cool, but not freezing nights, produce some of the most spectacular fall color displays, the agriculture department reports. Those bright sunny days increase food production in the plants, trapping more sugars in the leaf which brings on the production of athocyanins pigments.

The agriculture department also says moisture in the soil affects the intensity of the color season. For example, severe summer droughts can delay the onset of fall color, and a warm fall can make colors seem less intense.

As of last week, AAA Michigan said peak fall color will take place in about mid-October in Northern Michigan. Some areas of the Northwestern Upper Peninsula are only one to two weeks away from their peak.

I encourage everyone to get out this fall and enjoy the colors and weather of Michigan. And you don't even have to wear a kilt while doing it.

For more information on fall colors, visit the Internet at www.aaa.com or www.michigan.org.